black team fins

Ryan,

I already sent you a PM with the details of the Spetton fins. Take a look at www.spetton-usa.com or send me a email for further details.

Thanks

Ivan

ivan@spetton-usa.com

Asturven said:

Ryan,

I already sent you a PM with the details of the Spetton fins. Take a look at www.spetton-usa.com or send me a email for further details.

Thanks

Ivan

ivan@spetton-usa.com

Click to expand...

yes yes, ive seen your fins before, there very nice..
i am hoping to buy a pair myself soon..

I have had a pair for a long time but no longer use them since I upgraded.

If your looking to spend that kind of money on a fin then you should really look into getting a pair of Waterway fins for about the same price- but with fiberglass blades instead of plastic!

The footpockets are nice on them, but the blades get really stiff if your diving in cold water and then soften up again when diving in warm water. I haven't noticed this effect with C4's and Sporasub Pure's, or even the SPecialfins fiberglass blades.

You can get a new pari of them, with foot pockets, for around $150. Blades alone are $99.

Jon

Jon,

I totally agree with you.

I sell Leaderfins, Matrix, Spetton and C4’s fins (these last ones outside USA) and always you have a good option out there, but if you know very well which ones are the right for you and your diving or spearfishing specific requirements.

What I think is more valuable with the Spetton fins is that you will have the option of two different stiffness blades in the same kit for an affordable price (US$ 136) or any of those blades for only (US$ 108) until you were ready to Upgrade to a better blade and you will be also capable to use them in the same footpockets. They are the perfect fins for beginners.

You can get blades in Fiberglass, Etronax, Carbon or even Kevlar (If you have really a thick wallet). You also can choose between different stiffness (8 to be specific) and in custom-made dimensions. But I do not think that is a good option for a beginner to manage so many variables.

I have seen a lot of people buying really expensive fins for spearfishing and getting out of the store with the “State of Art” fin for a totally different application. Them you will see a post like this:
“ I am selling a Carbon fins with extra hard 34” long blades practically new”.

You will be plenty of time to change to a more advanced blade in a future once that you know what you need.

Cheers

Ivan

Ivan,
How do the Spetton foot pockets compare to Omer and Sporasub? Are they interchangeable with these other manufacturers? What footpockets do Leaderfins use?

If someone buys a leader fin from you, will you let them trade for a different hardness if they don’t like them?

Ryan,
picasso black team are really good plastic fins. I loved my pair. But plastic fins aren’t the best like Jon said. The footpockets are really comfortable, but they won’t fit on blades cut for Omer/Sporasub. I think plastic fins are only worth the money for the foot pockets, because if you get into freediving you will want to upgrade the blades to ones with more snap
don

I've owned Spetton footpockets in the past and they were pretty nice. they are exactly like the OMEr and Sporasub ones, although I would haveot say the lean more towards the Sporasub side of things since I thought they were more comfortable than my OMER's. You can change blades in the the same as with the other footpockets- rails and two screw holes.

Making sure that you don't get too stiff a fin to start with is a very good point. If your legs really are that tough you can always go up in the future, but will never be sorry to have a softer pair for long days in the water.

Jon

Don,

Like Jon well said they are very similar to the OMER and the Sporasub ones, with the same system of two screws to attach the blade and the lateral rails in to the rubber.

They are a little wider than the OMER; they are really exact to the Technosport footpockets. The thing is that there are a lot of footpockets of different brands that they started to be fabricated by the same people in Italy. The first Spora, Technosport, former SULA fins from the people of Elios, and Spetton are made with the same molding.
The last time that I went to your house I was carrying both Technosport and Spetton footpockets, next time I show you properly.

Leaderfins uses Omer or Spetton for their fins and Monofins, but they can send you the ones of your preference. With the Monofins they weld to footpockets in one cutting two of the rubber rails and leaving only the two in the exterior sides.
Both brands will be capable to receive the blades with and without angle that Leaderfins manufacture, as well as CT’s, Cressi, Spora, Matrix, XXone, among others. The only blades that I do not know for sure are Picasso’s because they use only one screw.

Really we do not import a lot of full fins to USA, normally we sell blades and them you use them with your own footpockets. If you want spetton pockets I can provide them cheaper directly from Spain because we represent spetton directly in USA and if you need OMER I can give you the contact of Mark Laboccetta of Technosport, he is the OMER distributor here in USA. It will be cheaper too.
I like to offer to my clients the best technical and economical option at the end they will become your friends. It is stupid that you have to pay for some footpockets that travel from Spain or Italy to Estonia and them to USA.

Regarding the Leaderfins blades there are totally custom made blades you can choose materials, size, stiffness, blades with and without blade and in some models even color or camouflage patterns, and you can also add the graphics that you want. So it is almost impossible to have in stock all the different options. We will try to maintain at least different stiffness that is the variable more important in order that if you live close to me in Texas or to Pablo, my partner in Florida you can test them.

But you do not have to worry you are in the corner!!!!!!!!!! And you already have blades from Specialfins that gives you a really good idea of what to expect regarding the stiffness. Remember that both Specialfins and Leaderfins came from the former Sebak fins, so they use similar fabrication techniques.

Ok we will in contact

Cheers

Ivan

Bill,

It is a very common practice to attach the carbon and other material blades without the screws.
Some European manufacturers of spearfishing blades recommend do not make holes in the blades and only use silicon like 3M 4200 in the rubber rails and some drops of Loctite between the blade an the footpockets were the screw normally are. I mentioned these because the Matrix and their new model Edge (with angle) are blades made under European standards for our friends in California.

In the Matrix fins in particular they are blades without angle so when you install them in your pockets the blade will not copy the form of the rubber boot that already have an angle.

So you will need to tight the screws very carefully.

Cheers

Ivan

ivan@spetton-usa.com
ivan@freediveforlife.com

All that leads me to believe that the Black Team pockets will fit blades cut for Omer/Sporasub. My Matrix blades came without any holes, and you just drill them for whatever pocket fasteners you choose.

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Bill,
I tried to mount my pisasco black team foot pockets, which I love the comfortableness and power they transfer to the blades, to a pair of Specialfins blades cut for Omer/Sporasub and I guess Spetton and Technosport too. My Picasso foot pockets were wider than the fins right were they attach infront of the foot pocket. The Picasso rails could be bent in to the fins further away from foot pocket, but there was a gab on each side right in front of the foot pocket. When the two different blades were put together the Pisacos were noticeable wider where the fins inserts into the pocket.

The Picassos also have some other differences, which could be overcome if needed. They only have one screw in the middle for the attachment of the footpocket, where the others have two. So if wasn’t for the width problem, I would have just drilled a hole in the fin. The other thing is the end of the rails push into a cut angled back on the blade sides. Which means you would have to make a pretty big cut in your blades to get them to fit properly.

What you have said makes me wonder if there are Picasso foot pockets out there different than mine. Maybe they changed the design to be more standard. If given the choose I would chose Picasso over Omer for comfort and power transfer, although the difference is not alot. Omer are fine for me.
don

Ivan,
I don’t need any fins right now, I was asking you to help you spread your info and because I get questions from new freedivers asking what I think they should do for fins. Right now I have two pairs of specialfins in two different hardness, and they, probably like Leaderfins, are awesome fins that should last years. I also agree totally with the statement you made to me, at the risk of upsetting some others, that there is no good excuse for straight fins. They discovered years ago that fins with bend in front of the foot pocket were more efficient, especially on the surface where us freedivers spend most of our time. You couldn’t buy a straight plastic freediving fin! All Omer freediving fins had bend and even their Millennium foot pockets come with the bend to accommodate bent blades. Then all of a sudden some manufactures, including Omer, were saying it wasn’t necessary. I believe the real reason is - it was just easier for them to CNC fins out of fiberglass sheets than do the necessary molds and the time consuming laminations (mostly by hand).

Sorry if I offended anyone, but there is no way I would buy a Waterway or Omer Bat fin when for the same price I could get Leader or Specialfins with a bend. I have tried to dive with people who could barely swim against a small current, because of the straight fins they were using. Sure they go under the water fine, but what difference does that make if it takes them forever to get to the spot and they are exhausted when they finally get there. If straight fins were better than most people could hold their feet straight. It is an easy concept, fins that are in line with the body and legs work better than ones that stick down with the foot. Fiberglass is such a superior material that straight fiberglass blades probably work better than bent plastic, at least under the water, but why settle for straight when you can have bent?
Sorry for offending anyone. Just my opinion,
don

Bill, okay I think I have this figured out. Here is a picture of Specialfin Stereo Pro Fin blade sitting on top of a Black Team blade. As you can see the Black Team is visible by about ¼” on each side so it measures about ½” wider than the specialfin at the foot pocket attachment. The specialfins also are rounded a little on the corners. The Picasso’s foot pocket side groves right in front of the toes won’t fit onto the edge of blade. But the Omer footpockets fit the Picasso blades just fine. In fact the Picasso blades are the same width at the end as the Omer blades.

What is happening is the Omer pockets at the side rails, right infront of the toes, are more flexible and can fit a slightly narrower blade where the Picasso foot pockets can’t. Matrix blades must be slightly wider than specialfins, similar to Picasso or Omer.

I remember when I ordered my fins from Jyri he asked which pockets I was going to use with them. But the bottom line is it looks like Picasso’s and Omer pockets ought to be interchangible, except for the screw hole and grove cut, and except for the strange case where the fin at the attachment is slightly narrower. Don’t know why Specialfins did this. Why not just make them the same width as other fins so several pockets will fit?

Also is a picture of the cut in a Picasso blade that the end of the footpocket rail fits into.
don